Airway epithelial cell response to human metapneumovirus infection

Abstract Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a major cause of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in infants, elderly and immunocompromised patients. In this study, we show that hMPV can infect in a similar manner epithelial cells representative of different tracts of the airways. hMPV-induced expression of chemokines IL-8 and RANTES in primary small alveolar epithelial cells (SAE) and in a human alveolar type II-like epithelial cell line (A549) was similar, suggesting that A549 cells can be used as a model to study lower airway epithelial cell responses to hMPV infection. A549 secreted a variety of CXC and CC chemokines, cytokines and type I interferons, following hMPV infection. hMPV was also a strong inducer of transcription factors belonging to nuclear factor (NF)-κB, interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) and signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) families, which are known to orchestrate the expression of inflammatory and immunomodulatory mediators.